Today we are in london!!! We started our day with a quick trip on the tube to downtown to check out the Florence Nightingale museum. We learned about her a lot in school, but seeing it from this new perspective was cool because it talked not only about her impact to nursing, but her whole life as well as other important figures i had never heard of, such as Elizabeth Fry and Lydia Sellon. One thing i found really funny was the fact that she had a pet owl that was apparently really mean.

We then got to go off on our own and explore!!! Me, Kaarthikha, and Julianna started by going back to big ben and the parliament to take some cute pictures and explore that area. We then headed to buckingham palace, which was a pretty far walk but definitely worth it. It was so cool to walk through the city and see all these new things on the way. When we got there, I immediately noticed how all of the gold decorations on their gates and their statue were so shiny which made it look really cool. I also really liked the guards and we got to see a few of them. The palace was more plain than I thought, but it was still such a cool thing to see in person!

Next we headed to a cute market where we grabbed lunch and did some shopping. We were not planning on going there, but we ended up taking a wrong turn down an alley which had tons of grafiti and art all over the floor, walls, and ceiling which ended up leading us there. We originally planned to go somewhere else for lunch, but I am glad we ended up there because it was such a cool experiencing. It had a lunch market with street vendors along with the regular shops that are there all the time, and it was super cute!! For lunch we stopped at this cute bakery/cafe and I had a salmon and cucumber bagel. After lunch, we took the tube to go towards the london and tower bridge. I really expected london bridge to have some more too it, since that’s the one I feel like you hear so much about, but it was really plain. Tower bridge though was so cool to see since it was very fancy, much better than london bridge. We walked around in this area for a while and took some pictures before doing some more shoppng. Then, we went to the borough marker to walk around and grab a quick snack. We ended up getting the famous chocolate covered strawberries that are all over the internet and tiktok, and they were definitely worth all the attention they get, they were amazing!! I don’t think I have ever had strawberries that good before. 

After stopping to eat these and just wander around for a little, we got on an uber boat to head to our next stop. We thought this was super funny and decided we wanted to take one because it would get us to where we needed to go, but also would be cool to go down the river and get to see everything else that way! It was not a long ride, just down and around a bend in the river, but we were able to see so many sites and the skylines of the city, and it was also just cool to be on a boat. We then arrived back at westminster where we then crossed the bridge and got on the london eye! The views from the cars were incredible! Although it was pretty expensive, it is such a cool experience and since I don’t know if I will ever be back in london, I wanted to experience it. It really allowed me to see how big the city is and also take some really cool pictures!! We also did a little bit of shopping in this area too.

Then, we got on a bus to head towards Kings Cross station to see where Harry Potter was filmed and the store they had. I’ve never really read the books or seen the movies, but it was still really cool to see everything. We also did some more exploring, just walking around the area. All of the areas of the city were adorable and I loved the design of the buildings. We then grabbed a bite to eat and did some more shopping before heading to see Moulin Rogue at Piccadilly Theatre. It was such an amazing show, not quite what I was expecting but still incredible. I liked how they used songs that we would know and combined them in a way that it made sense with the plot of the show.

After the show finished, we got back on the tube and headed for the hotel one last time. I then finished packing my stuff and got ready for bed. Although I am ready to go home and rest, it’s also sad to leave since this was such an incredible experience! I truly got to learn and see so much from everybody who taught us, all the sites we visited, and even just my own time exploring. I had an amazing time and hopefully I get to experience something like this again during my time at pitt!!